February wraps up with a record cold day in Portland, plus ice on some roads for Wednesday morning commute

This morning turned out about as well as it could. A large area of snow covered the central Willamette Valley, then a surface low tracked right across the southern metro area this afternoon, producing snowy roads in a few spots during the evening commute. It sure was “juicier” as expected today with lots of showers around the region. The cloud cover and regular rain/snow showers throughout the day gave us a record cold high temperature. A high of only 39 degrees is a record for February 28th, and only the 2nd time in the past 20 years we’ve stayed in the 30s this late in the season.

There was quite a bit of snow in the central Willamette Valley this morning with many areas seeing at least 1/2″

Morning snow also coated parts of the southwest metro area and western part of the northern Willamette Valley. Notice a little bit of snow at the beaches too. The south/southeast metro snow was early this evening as the last cluster of showers moved through the south metro. Note no official snow in Portland for the 3rd day. Hard to believe we can be “right” with 3 consecutive morning forecasts of NOTHING to 1″. Well, NOTHING fell officially here during those 3 days...I hate snow shower weather patterns...

Now that the showers are going away, we’re starting to see spots of clearing. We’ve got lots of wet roads out there and that sure could be a problem for the morning commute. But how much clearing? Tough call because models are showing low clouds filling back in a bit toward daybreak. Due to this, I’m thinking we won’t see a totally frozen icy hell for the morning commute. Instead there will probably be ice on SOME roads; and it’s most likely in the west metro where skies clear a bit more.

After the icy start, the rest of Wednesday will be uneventful. We’ve got a system moving inland late tomorrow night and early Thursday though. This is the same setup we saw last Saturday night, with even milder temps. South wind, light precipitation, and marginal temps tell me AT BEST some of us see snow mixed in. Most of us just see light rain Thursday.

February is wrapping up chilly once again. 2-3 degrees below average, really dragged down by a very chilly final week. This is the 8th consecutive February with temperatures either normal or below. We haven’t seen a “warm” February since 2016. That year and February 2015 are the warmest in Portland’s record books.

SUMMARY

Expect spots of icy roads Wednesday morning, give yourself extra time to get to work in case your neighborhood is slippery
Wednesday will be an uneventful weather day with partly cloudy skies
A weak system Thursday brings light rain at times
Cool showers with snow in the hills returns Friday, could be mixed rain/snow for the morning commute that day
We do not have any First Alert Weather Days planned through the weekend. That means at this time I don’t see any “disruptive” weather for the lowlands